BSkyB selects Symbian OS to develop Sky by mobile

Symbian OS provides volume and versatility required for content rich, mass market application

3GSM, Barcelona, 14 February 2006 – British Sky Broadcasting (Sky) and Symbian Limited today announced that BSkyB selected Symbian OS™ for Sky by mobile, the interactive application which puts the UK’s leading digital TV service into the hands of millions of mobile phone users. Symbian develops Symbian OS, the market-leading open mobile operating system for advanced mobile phones, also known as smartphones, which is licensed to the world’s leading handset manufacturers.

Sky by mobile, offers Sky digital and Sky Bet customers an value-added way to access Sky on the move at no extra cost. Once downloaded from  onto an appropriate 2.5G or 3G Symbian OS phone,  users are presented with a viewing guide with the same look and feel as the Sky Guide, Sky’s electronic programme guide.

The Symbian OS application offers a range of TV content, including sports, entertainment, news and weather and provides access to a wide range of interactive services including personalised news, sports headlines and ‘on the fly’ betting for Sky Bet account holders. In order to handle this large volume of real-time multimedia content in an effective way the application was developed using native C++ on Symbian OS to ensure the best user experience possible without compromising quality.

Symbian’s market leading position underpinned Sky’s decision to select Symbian OS as the platform on which to develop its Sky by mobile application. As of Q3 2005, 13 handset manufacturers had shipped 48 million Symbian OS phones to over 250 major networks worldwide. Gartner forecasts that by the end of 2006 smartphone sales will reach 87m with Symbian OS owning 83% of the market share at 72 million.

BSkyB
“Using Symbian OS meant we can offer Sky customers the very best quality experience on mobile,” said Stephen Nuttall, Business Development Director, BSkyB. “We are extending the Sky brand even further by offering great content conveniently and flexibly to our customers. We look forward to continuing to work with Symbian on the evolution of this new platform.” 

Symbian
“Sky by mobile is an excellent example of how software developers are benefiting from Symbian OS,” said Simon Garth, VP Marketing, Symbian. “Using a native Symbian OS application to deliver high-quality, interactive content on phones, provides accurate, responsive and feature-rich consumer experiences, which in turn helps generate increased revenues for operators, content owners, phone vendors and third party software developers.”

weComm
weComm is a British based software company specializing in delivering business-critical data over wireless networks. The company developed Sky by mobile for Sky:
"We recommended to Sky that the Sky by mobile service should be developed on Symbian OS first because it was the only platform capable of supporting a highly appealing and intuitive user experience without compromising any of the advanced technology features we required for a first rate interactive mobile TV service”, said Oliver Sturrock, Chief Operating Officer, weComm.

Sky by mobile is free to Sky digital customers in the UK and Republic of Ireland who subscribe to two or more premium channels or who have a registered Sky Bet account. 

About Symbian

Symbian is a software licensing company that develops and licenses Symbian OS, the market leading open operating system for advanced, data-enabled mobile phones also known as smartphones.

Symbian licenses Symbian OS to the world’s leading handset manufacturers and has built close co-operative business relationships with leading companies across the mobile industry.  In the first three quarters of 2005, more than 23 million Symbian OS mobile phones were sold worldwide to over 250 network operators, bringing the total number of Symbian OS phones shipped to almost 48 million.

Symbian has its headquarters in London, United Kingdom with offices in the United States, Europe (England and Sweden (UIQ Technology AB)), Israel and Asia (India, P.R. China, Korea, and Japan).

http://www.symbian.com/
press@symbian.com

About Sky by mobile

Sky by mobile gives Sky digital and Sky Bet customers access to Sky entertainment, sports, news and weather on the move.  The service includes: 

• The latest news stories and videos from Sky Sports and Sky News
• Daily round-ups from the celebrity world, plus exclusive interviews, reviews and previews from Sky One and Sky Movies
• Personalised “My Sports” section, so viewers can follow updates on the teams and events of their choice
• Live scoreboards giving up to the minute scores for a number of sports events
• Tables, fixtures, results and standings for key sports
• Weather forecasts from the Sky Weather team, including a 24-hour outlook for
• UK cities and towns
• A new way to check odds, place bets and manage your Sky Bet account

Sky by mobile is available across multiple networks on a range of handsets that are compatible with internet access via GPRS or 3G on Symbian OS and JAVA enabled handsets.

Sky by mobile is free to Sky digital customers in the UK and Republic of Ireland who subscribe to two or more premium channels or who have a registered Sky Bet account.  Use of the Sky by mobile application will incur a user's normal operator data tariffs - users should contact their operator for details.

Media Enquiries

Valerie Breslow Bock Communications Symbian US +1 714 206 3201 vbreslow@bockpr.com	Paul Jarratt Symbian +44 7966 458 341 press@symbian.com
Heidi Bruckland BSkyB +44 207 705 3275 heidi.bruckland@bskyb.com	Kevin Emamy weComm +44 20 7448 7820 Kevin.emamy@wecomm.com